Zen Q Synergy Core review & sound test with guitars / vocals
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- Опубликовано: 27 июл 2024
- Today we look at the Zen Q Synergy Core audio interface from Antelope Audio.
Famous for their pristine AD/DA converters and 64bit AFC (Acoustically Focused Clock)!
Learn more about the Zen Q bus powered USB interface in the video.
More info about Zen Q here - bit.ly/3vU0U7I
Buy Zen Q (Amazon affiliate link US):
amzn.to/36qtzXi
Buy Zen Q (Thomann EU):
www.thomann.de/intl/antelope_...
Thanks for watching,
// Mattias Holmgren
www.morningdewmedia.com
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#zenq #antelopeaudio
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Intro
00:56 Zen Q Features Overview I/O
02:43 Pre-Amp Recording Quality - Acoustic Guitar + Vocals
03:28 Zen Q Voice Over recording without effects
04:03 Voice Over Recording Test 2
04:16 Pre-Amp Gain +65db test
04:53 Hardware monitoring
05:11 Real-time effects on voice (Synergy Core suite)
06:25 FPGA vs CPU
07:22 Acoustic guitar (clean) without effects
07:48 Acoustic guitar with compressor.
08:30 Electric guitar (clean signal via Hi-Z input G1)
09:26 Electric guitar with gate, guitar amp, cabinet sim fx.
10:21 Metal guitar recording test
11:22 Guitar tracks in Bitwig Studio breakdown.
11:55 Final verdict
13:12 Questions? Subscribe! 
Хобби
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
As always great review. Very interesting product too never heard of it. And gosh how quiet is your room haha, I am so jealous
Thanks MLH, oh, then go check up on Antelope Audio interfaces. They have been super solid so far in all my tests and can run much more real time effects via FPGA / DSP compared to UAD Apollo devices. My Apollo Twin X starts complaining after just 4-5 effects. Yeah it's a pretty silenced room. Only some minor traffic outside during daytime, but it's no biggie. There are no fan noise except from my Ninja 5 camera monitor + the PC / Mac (hack) fan, but it's super silent Noctua and I also run fanless gfx card inside. ;)
@@MattiasHolmgren My room is treated pretty well but I still have so many noises from the surrounding area haha. It drives me crazy. Helicopters, trucks, dogs you name it lol
@@MaybeLoveHate yeah it can be extremely annoying. I got this studio placed pretty far from the road though. And the new studio A in construction is also placed at the other end of the house so it's further from any roads. So it should be pretty nice too! But this place is really great for audio recording. Very happy with this temporary space so far! Just a tad small...for all the gear ;)
@@MattiasHolmgren I am very jealous! I can't wait to have a proper studio with quiet and space haha
What city is your studio at MLH? I live in a pretty calm small town so general traffic is rarely a big issue here.
"...You should know, it's gonna be me-heee and Joooo..." :) THANK YOU for the demo video!
lol, happy to share some audio interface test vibes! ;)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Intro
00:56 Zen Q Features Overview I/O
02:43 Pre-Amp Recording Quality - Acoustic Guitar + Vocals
03:28 Zen Q Voice Over recording without effects
04:03 Voice Over Recording Test 2
04:16 Pre-Amp Gain +65db test
04:53 Hardware monitoring
05:11 Real-time effects on voice (Synergy Core suite)
06:25 FPGA vs CPU
07:22 Acoustic guitar (clean) without effects
07:48 Acoustic guitar with compressor.
08:30 Electric guitar (clean signal via Hi-Z input G1)
09:26 Electric guitar with gate, guitar amp, cabinet sim fx.
10:21 Metal guitar recording test
11:22 Guitar tracks in Bitwig Studio breakdown.
11:55 Final verdict
13:12 Questions? Subscribe!
I was hoping to see how AFX2DAW worked, but overall Excellent video. Thanks.
We will look at the afx2daw in the next Zen video! Thanka for fb. ☀️🥳🥁☕️
Hello, thanks for the review!
Can you please tell me if the headphone outputs have enough power?
In one of the reviews, they drew attention to the fact that low-impedance headphones sound worse than high-impedance ones!
Have you personally checked...?
Thanks !!!
Today we look at the Zen Q Synergy Core audio interface from Antelope Audio. Famous for their pristine AD/DA converters and 64bit AFC (Acoustically Focused Clock)! Learn more about the Zen Q bus powered USB interface in the video.
More info about Zen Q here - bit.ly/3vU0U7I
So what was that custom drop down above the plugins for? And can you use third party effects like waves or uad plugins with the antelope plugins?
The effects within the Zen Q software are those custom from Antelope Audio (Synergy Core effects). They are unique and specific and such powered by their own FPGA and DSP that I talk about in the video. This software does not support and power third party plugins which would not be able to take advantage of the FPGA. An FPGA needs to be programmed and customized very specific. Thus it's not able to host (calculate) other third party plugs. But the Synergy Core plugs does sound VERY good. I'm going to look more closely on them in an upcoming video (in the making). ;)
For the USB-C port you should have borrowed the thunderbolt version of the Zen Q, which is also available
Yes, I have the more expensive Zen Tour (the big brother to the Zen Q) with TB which I will talk about in an upcoming video. we will also look at afx2daw plugin. 🥳☕️🥁
Very nice overview. I purchased this AI yesterday in a bundle with the Solo Edge microphone at Thomann (Germany) and I‘ll get it next week. That‘s why I watched this video. I‘ll primarily use is for voice recording. Does it mean that I can leave the setting in my DAW (Logic) at 1024 and there is no latency when recording vocals?
Hi Gad, congrats on your purchase! When recording vocals with the ZEN and Synergy Core effects activated. The effects will not introduce extra latency like plugins in the DAW would. The audio will go through with no percieved latency, as you can setup your headphone / monitor mix to output the AFX (antelope effected incoming audio) directly! ;) That's direct monitoring WITH effects.
BUT if you choose to monitor your mic through the DAW audio output, the DAWs (and it's plugins) latency will effect the playback audio with delay. So if you set 1024 you will get X milliseconds of delay.
So I highly advice to monitor directly via the ZEN software rather than via the DAWs audio output...if you feel you need to work with such a high latency setting in the DAW.
For such a scenario I would mute the channel output in the DAW while recording. And monitor through ZEN software instead for exact timing and best audio cue mix. ;)
Did that make sense?
// Mattias
@@MattiasHolmgren Thanx a lot! For me it‘s quite disappointing that there is no Thunderbolt cable included and I had to order one that fits for another € 49.-.
Yeah TB cables are quite expensive somehow! ☕️
Awesome Video, do you still recommend it after 2 years of use?
I’m using the Zen Tour every day. Can’t recommend it enough. Excellent interface. 👌🏆
@@MattiasHolmgren that's awesome 👌🏾 👏🏾
Is the DSP mandatory can we use this interface with normal third party plugins on DAW as we use on other interfaces? And does it works with m1 monetery
The Synergy Core effects which makes use of the onboard FPGA & DSP are the only plugins the ZEN Q specific software can run in realtime. With the other Antelope Audio interfaces u can also run these plugins within a regular DAW via their afx2daw plugin (which is kind of a bridge software). I know they are working on making afx2daw available for Zen Q too. But I don’t know if its released yet. Yes Zen Q worked fine with my M1 MBPs too. 🔥🥁
@@MattiasHolmgren thank you sir
Hello Matt, great review, Are does the 37 plug-in works on DAW after flat record ondemand or only work it on input into of Zen Q when you capture the sound? can you record separately signal, Processed and Unprocessed?
At least on my Zen Tour You can record with fx and without if necessary. Just make the routing in zen / antelope software. 👌
Don’t have the Zen Q anymore and its been quite some time since I used it. I would suggest reacing out to Antelope regarding ya questions. Or check the manual for Zen Q.
@@MattiasHolmgren Thanks, regards from Argentina.
Hallo help me please my pc cannot recognize audio card zen q synergy core i have win 11 end thunderboltex 4 tnx
Do you have any issues with crackling on the recordings? Also, are you hearing something like a "wave" of white-noise on the headphones outs?
I disnt experience any crackling on the recordings. Make sure to not overdrive the signal as the audio interface does not have any default soft clipper on the audio inputs. The headphone outs have been very clean and pure in my usage and tests. ☀️🥁
@@MattiasHolmgren That's great to hear. I've had 3 units (initial + 2 replacements) all having crackling in recordings and noisy headphones outs. Even firmware updates they provided didn't correct the issue.
Edit: removed a question about how you obtained the Zen Q since I just caught that part of the video. I see that they must've cherry-picked a good unit to loan you. Thanks for the info!
When I mute the mic channel, or turn the volume all the way down, I still get the signal coming out of the left speaker. Any ideas why this happens.
Check your mixer routings in the synergy (Zen) software. You probably have some routing going in. Try resetting that mixer to default settings. Hope it helps.
@@MattiasHolmgren did a mixer reset and also factory reset on the Zen Q hardware but audio passes direct. Here’s a little video of it. Any ideas?
great video! How would you compare it to the Universal Audio Apollo Twin MK II Quad?
Hi Hevon, to my ears the Zen Tour audio converters sound as good as the Apollo Twin X (which I also have). I mostly use the zen Tour though since it offeres more I/O (also ADAT out…which the Apollo lacks). The only downside I found with the Zen is that the inputs does not offer soft clipping so you have to be careful about recording levels. If you keep those in check everything is fine. With the Apollo you don’t have to think about the level too much. The FPGA powered plugins of Antelope sounds lovely but I find the user interface slightly more fiddly than the UA. But the sound is sweet!! Hope the info helps. What interface do you use?
@@MattiasHolmgren I appreciate the reply. You are dead on the money. I find the Apollo way more user friendly as for as physical unit, everything is easy, has a talk for your artist in booth. The Zen Q senergy core sounds more crisp to me, not as warm as apollo which im fine with, I actually like it better. I find myself looking over my songs with the Zen and I'd say it's less forgiving than the Apollo, which is awesome for mixing and mastering. makes all those nasty artifacts stick out. As for adat and expanding I do not need it atm since I am solo artist. The set up for the Zen was a pain tho, all the routing for daw and all the Plug ins seems to be a chore to install too, where Apollo I had no issues ever. The only issue I had with Apollo was when recording all the sudden id get a fuzzy white noise coming into the recording, like some unregistered plug in was in my chain, but wasn't. I found many people have this issue, hence why I changed. Also with Zen I have no line noise as well. Where apollo picked up all sorts of electro noise. Again thank you for yourvideo and reply! want to check out any crazy music feel free to stop by :)
THANK YOU!
Also, do the afx2daw functions work in Bitwig? I probably missed that part
I didn't go through afx2daw plugin in this video as it does not yet work with Zen Q (Antelope Audio is working on making that happen). But, we will look at the afx2daw plugin in another video where we talk about the big brother to this audio interface, namely the Zen Tour.
@@MattiasHolmgren ah, that makes sense. Thank you!
ThanQ 4 the ZenQ demo. Peace in Ukraine!
U art welcome for the Zen Q demo, I agree wholeheartedly and sincerely from Sweden - peace in 🇺🇦!
Peace in the world would be broader
Yeah lets expand that to peace in the world! 👌
Can I plug and use two guitars and two microphones at the same time?
Yes, you can record A1, A2, G1 and G2...all four inputs simultanously.